Should you Hire a Motivational Speaker through a Speakers Bureau?
Posted by Jody Urquhart on Mon, Dec 05, 2011 @ 10:55 AM
Charged with planning a conference, one of the daunting tasks is hiring your opening and closing motivational speakers.
With the overwhelming number of keynote speakers available, meeting planners may consider using a speakers bureau or agent to hire a speaker. The other option is to surf the net and research the minefield of speakers on your own. See our blog, Steps to hire a motivational speaker.
This blog post is to help you uncover the pros and cons of working with a speaker bureau.
Speakers bureaus charge a commission of approximately 25- 30% for their services. This comes out of the speakers fee.
Pros:
Speakers Bureaus work with hundreds of speakers and know about topics, content, relevance, who is easy to work with (and not), and what requirements speakers have.
Speakers Bureaus can help you negotiate the contract and make all of your speaker selections integrated.
Speakers Bureaus will work many hours helping you find the right motivational speaker. They only get paid when the speaker gets paid. Bureaus want to build a long term relationship with you so they have a vested interest in securing the right speaker for your event.
Year after year working with the same Speakers Bureau you can streamline your Motivational Keynote speaker discover and hiring process.
Cons:
Because they make a commission on the speakers fee, bureaus may try to sell you on a higher paid motivational speaker. Most speakers bureaus are not interested in keynote speakers who charge under $5,000 because they do not make enough commission.
Speakers bureaus will have certain speakers they use all the time. Because they have the relationship, they continually recommend the same speakers. If you see an inspirational speaker you like, because the speakers bureau has not worked with them before, they may veer you to other options.
Speaker Bureaus commission will limit the ability to negotiate a motivational speakers fee
From a speakers perspective, some bureaus can make it difficult to get the information necessary from clients. To customize their motivational speech, your keynote speaker will need to speak with other delegates and committee members. The bureau tries to stay involved because it is their client. Demanding to control this interaction and follow up can make the research and preparation for the meeting more difficult.
Speaker Bureaus have their own process for booking speaker and the speaker must comply with this process. Some speakers bureaus will not allow a speaker to have any contact information whatsoever on any communication with the client. Again, this makes ongoing interaction more difficult.
You can find more resources on planning a meeting and download our meeting planners success guide.
Doing a quick internet search for your favorite motivational speaker may immediately bring up a speakers bureau website. Search a little further and you will see the speakers own website. Now you have a choice, contact the speaker directly or go through the speakers bureau.